Market and trend research the comeback of key pieces The fashion industry is in flux and going through some major changes. One of the current developments within the industry is the change from daring, one-season trends into a focus on simplified collections. These collections consist mostly out of products that communicate the core and design signature of a brand. More luxury fashion brands are focussing on their core by creating collections that are immediately recognisable through the distinctive handwriting of the designer, these continual pieces will always be relevant. Fashion designers like Raf Simons and Meyer&Vaillant are emphasising the extreme pace of the fashion industry and the pressure to keep producing more, without being able to process or analyse ideas. They believe when a design is beautiful and works, it should be refined and developed over time without starting from scratch each season. Luxury good analyst Mario Ortelli explains, the more a brand produces key pieces that communicate a coherent style, the more experience a brand has with producing and selling this product which maximises the working capital. Furthermore, items “65% of luxury consumers would be interested in adopting are not limited to seasons and can stay in sale for longer, which means profit will increase due to limited markdowns. Also the brand can keep working with ‘seasonless style’. Consumers will increasingly want brands to act manufacturers to re-order throughout the whole year. not on the basis of short-term demand, but on long-term vision with sustainability at the core of manufacturing.” Victoria Buchanan, Trend Analyst at The Future Laboratory genderfluidity The rise of our technological era enabled more flexibility into our everyday lives. Social media allows access to an endless amount of information and opinions, opening minds to other ways of perceiving things. How we identify ourselves is becoming increasingly flexible as well, we transform and assemble our identities daily, just like fashion. Research from the Intelligence Group with respondents aged 14-34 found out that more than two-third agrees gender does not define a person the way it used to do. Also, 66% believes they are pushing boundaries on what it means to be masculine or feminine. According to a YouGov Poll more than 40% of young Britons say they are neither gay nor straight, which means not only gender but also sexuality is blurring. This topic is especially of high importance for Gen-Z and early Millennials, who think beauty shines from within and believe that society “Those who keep asking, I have no gender, no shouldn’t care how they define themselves. Gender identities continue to dominate sexuality, and no f*cks to give.” the fashion industry, as more fashion brands unveil gender-neutral campaigns – 20-year-old Shamir Bailey, a popular Las Vegas-based musician to reflect society’s embrace of gender fluidity. For example Jaden Smith, one of today’s gender influencers, stands as a symbol of gender-fluidity as the new face of the Louis Vuitton SS16 Womenswear Campaign. eco efficiency Sustainability is no longer a buzzword, but an expected standard, so the rise of eco-efciency is a key priority for all fashion brands. Eco-efciency is best described as a business approach that aims to minimise ecological damage while maximising the efciency of the company and its production processes. This could be through reduced use of energy, material and water, or through recycling or cutting hazardous emissions and by-products. In short, the focus is on maintaining production, but with fewer resources, and less waste and pollution. According to the 2015 Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report, in 2015, 66% of our global population would pay more for sustainable goods. Where 41% of Gen Z is willing to pay a premium price for sustainable products with high longevity. The road to eco-efciency is bumpy but essential, and requires companies to invest time, energy and be prepared to make hard decisions. - Accountability and transparency can also have a positive impact, a recent Cohn & Wolfe survey found that 63% of global consumers would buy from a company they consider authentic over competitors, and 59% stated they tend to recommend authentic companies to their friends and family. 18 reshoring of manufacturing Firstly, ‘reshoring’ means bringing back the manufacturing process form for example China to Europe or the US. Taking the step to keep manufacturing close to stores could also allow a fashion brand to build up an agile supply chain. Furthermore, this step could be attractive for fashion manufacturing as labour costs in China are rising and the producing speed within the fashion industry is increasing, as well as issues with overseas suppliers like industrial discontent and bad product quality. Today, over 90% of US apparel is imported and UK apparel manufacturing only employs about 100.000 people, according to the Fashion & Textiles Association. However, some brands are ignoring this trend. Last month, Burberry announced plans to expand its production in the North of England and last year Nike also announced plans along those lines. Even in general, experience apparel was the third-highest industry for reshoring in the Customers are increasingly investing in experiences and value ‘doing’ over ‘buying’ more and more. US in 2014 taking account for 12% of all cases, according to Especially with an eye on Generation Z, who are well known for the fact they prioritise products on consulting firm A.T. Kearney’s Reshoring Index. whether they can share these on social media through its story or experience. Retailers are opening hybrid flagships that fuse hospitality with leisure. Alongside cafes, bars and restaurants in stores, retailers are incorporating in-store bookshops, gallery spaces, event hubs and pop-up installations as a way of extending the brand message and targeting their customer’s new lifestyle interests. In-store the aim still is to combine online and ofine experiences within the physical touchpoint. According to Deloittes Allison Kenney Paul “Customers want to use digital in-store, which is why brick-and-mortar strategies need to focus on the link between digital shopping and their experience in the physical store.” Retail is about being connected to the consumer and consumers expect retailers to bridge the gap between the physical and digital. mobile connected Whilst TV used to be the media of choice for most, smartphones are taking over the industry. Mobile web access is expected to surpass all electronic devices combined by 2018, and the average consumer will use and own more than three personal devices like smartphones, tablets and notebooks. Gen Z is constantly hunting for inspiration and creating a new era where the smartphone dominates the tech-world as their own personal curators and shoppers. According to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center 92% of teens go online daily, 24% are online almost constantly. Furthermore, mobile payment will go mainstream, driven by Apple Pay and other payment-enabling technologies. The global consumer of today is online and connected, this is where they are looking and they are expecting for brands to be there. The entire shopping experience must be a seamless journey in which customers feel luxury, from scrolling through products to unboxing their purchases. According to a 2015 report by global consultancy McKinsey & Company last year, almost all luxury goods growth came from e-commerce, and today, around three in four luxury sales are influenced by at least one digital touchpoint. Also, customers are using their smartphones more for inspiration and idea generation earlier in their shopping process, not simply as a price comparison tool. Consumers are 30% less likely to use mobile devices for in-store price comparisons than in 2014, shown in a Deloitte’s study. 19 target group the free-to-be-me Generation Meet the open-minded men who define their own kind of beautiful. The Free- to-be-me Generation consists of men that are part of Generation Z and early Millennials. They are the early-adaptors living in Urban Environments. With current estimates at 2 Billion globally, this demographic will be the single largest consumer group worldwide within the next 5-7 years and have a spending power of 44$ billion a year, according to Fitch Media. Growing up in a post-9/11 world during a global recession and having a lifelong connection with technology made them known as the most tolerant demographic in which all aspects of their culture are blurred, they’ve created their own fluid society. They believe the existence of diferent cultures beliefs and opinions within society is vital and good. Multiculturalism is in their essence rather than a negative aspect within how they perceive the world. Being fed up with unrealistic beauty ideals and radical stereotyping they’re leading the way into a world in which beauty shines from within. They are pushing boundaries on gender, identities and sexual exploration (66%) and don’t feel the need to seek approval or follow social norms, instead they trigger people to revalue Being highly aware of environmental issues like global warming made this generation strongly socially the traditional standards. For them life is full of freedom and fluidity towards minded. Their desire for innovation and change is big, which results in the fact that 60% says they want to gender, identities and sexual exploration and labels are swept away. Freedom is a have a positive impact on the world. They’re highly considerate of their impact on the world and others. big part of their essence, to think, to do, to dress and to dream. All human beings Social media allows them to response immediately to protests or marches, what eventually gave them the should be free to express themselves in complete freedom without any social name ‘Clicktivists’.